NR/clay nanocomposites

Wu et prepared NR/clay nanocomposites by directly co-coagulating the rubber latex and clay aqueous suspension. This preparative process is very simple, convenient and elfective. SEM showed good dispersion of clay in the NR matrix, and these novel NR/clay nanocomposites exhibited excellent mechanical and gas barrier properties. 

Much effort has gone into preparing rubber-clay nanocomposites based on NR as described in the earlier section. However, the dispersion of such nanoclays in non-polar NR matrices was very poor. In this section we would like to outline the preparation and characterization of NR-clay nanocomposites in the presence of certain eompatibilizers added into the system externally. For instance, Teh et al. prepared NR-OMt nanocomposites by a melt compounding method. ENR 25 and ENR 50 were used as compatibilizers. Pristine MMT was modified with oetadecyltrimethylamine and abbreviated as MMT-ODTMA. The amount of organoclay was only 2 phr while the amount of ENR was varied. NR-MMT-ODTMA showed mostly intercalated structure of the... 

Figure 8.18 Dependence of amplitude sweep on E of different NR-clay nanocomposites.

FIGURE 2.7 Effect of various clays on natural rubber (NR)-based nanocomposites (at 4 phr loading). (From Bhattacharya and Bhowmick, Unpublished data.)... 

This is truly reflected in the morphology of the uncured clay preexfoliated rubber nanocomposite films (NLu NA) prepared by the latex blending method (Fig. 7a). Curing the NR/NA nanocomposites in situ prevulcanization (No>NA) does not alter the arrangements of dispersed clay layers greatly, as seen from the... 

Barrier properties of a rubber matrix are remarkably improved thanks to clay addition. The tortuous path model is proposed to explain this phenomenon. In a NR/Mt nanocomposite prepared from emulsion blending, 1, 2 and 3 phr of clay led to more than 35% and to about 45% and 50% reduction of oxygen permeability, respectively. " 3 phr of OC (Mt/ didodecyl methyl amine) gave a 50% reduction of the oxygen permeability and a 40% reduction of toluene absorption at 20 °C. About 10% and 15% reduction of oxygen permeability were obtained with 5 and 10 phr of OC, respectively, and 30% reduction of toluene absorption was achieved with 15% OC, at 30 °C. ... 

A synergistic effect was also found between clay and CB N330 from Cabot, in NR based nanocomposites prepared by emulsion compounding.It was observed that both fillers were dispersed at nanoscale and randomly in the NR matrix the space between the clay layers was filled with CB particles. The mechanical properties of the nanocomposites, such as moduli at 100% and 300% elongation, tensile strength and tear strength were much improved, at the same total filler level, by the hybrid filler system, with respect to composites containing only one filler. 

Sharif et reported that NR/OC nanocomposites were prepared by melt blending using electron beam irradiation as a substitute for sulfur. It was found that the physical and mechanical properties of radiation-induced crosslinking of NR composites with OC were improved due to the presence of nanosize intercalated silicate layers in the NR matrix. Replacing sulfur with radiation-induced crosslinking of NR/OC nanocomposites was not significantly affected by the amount of OC up to 10 phr. Meanwhile, the thermal stability of NR/OC nanocomposites improved with an increase in clay content up to 10 phr. 

Figure 22.9(a) shows unfilled NR, (b) is for Na -MMT/NR and (c) is for NR/O-MMT. The dramatic variation in SIC with increasing strain is seen in the case of NR/O-MMT nanocomposites. Addition of nanoclay platelets in NR provides a regular polymer network microstructure. The O-MMT and NR are hydrophobic in nature. Hence NR chains are interfacially adsorbed at the outer surface of O-MMT. But in Na-MMT, no such interaction is present due to the changes in dipole distribution. So in the SIC analysis, the NR/O-MMT nanocomposites show sharper crystalline peaks than the other clay nanocomposites. 

Table 23.1 Techniques typically used to analyse the multi-scale clay organization in NR-based nanocomposites.

M. Abdollahi et al. prepared NR/BR blend/clay nanocomposites via a combined latex/melt intercalation method. The TGA results indicated an improvement in main and end decomposition by increasing the elay loading. ... 

Figure 3. TEM photographs of a non-layered clay (a) and sodium fluorohectorite-filled NR-based nanocomposite (b) produced by latex compounding. Silicate content of 10 phr.

The incorporation of organoclay also resulted in a noticeable increase in the value of mixing torque of NR-organoclay nanocomposite, as compared to the pristine NR. " " This is due to the octadecylamine intercalation between the layers of the clay increasing the interlayer distance, thus easing the intercalation and confinement of natural rubber chains in the galleries of the layered-silicate. Thus a better interaction between the silicate and natural rubber is obtained, which also increases the torque required for blending. ... 

Recently a lot of attention is being given to the field of latex-based nanocomposites. Various organoclays as well as pristine clays have been intercalated in aqueous medium with NR latex, SBR latex, NBR latex, as well as carboxylated nitrile mbber (XNBR) latex [184—187], to achieve a good degree of dispersion. 

Figure 7 shows the representative bright field HRTEM images of nanocomposites of NR and unmodified montmorillonite (NR/NA) prepared by different processing and curing techniques. It is apparent that the methodology followed to prepare the nanocomposites by latex blending facilitates the formation of exfoliated clay structure, even with unmodified nanoclays. It has been reported in the literature that hydration of montmorillonite clay leads to extensive delamination and breakdown of silicate layers [94, 95]. It has also been shown that NA disperses fully into the individual layers in its dilute aqueous dispersion (clay concentration <10%)... 

Bandyopadhyay et al. [138] have also studied the distribution of nanoclays such as NA and 30B in NR/ENR (containing 50 mol% epoxy) and NR/BR blends and their effect on the overall properties of the resultant nanocomposite blends. They calculated the preferential distribution of clays at various loadings in the blend compounds from the viscoelastic property studies from DMA. The tensile properties of the 50 50 NR/ENR and 50 50 NR/BR blend nanocomposites are shown in Table 5. It is apparent that in both the blends that the mechanical properties increase with increasing clay concentration up to a certain extent and then decrease. These results have been found to depend on matrix polarity and the viscosity of the blend compounds. 

Mondragon et al. [250] used unmodified and modified natural mbber latex (uNRL and mNRL) to prepare thermoplastic starch/natural rubber/montmorillonite type clay (TPS/NR/Na+-MMT) nanocomposites by twin-screw extrusion. Transmission electron microscopy showed that clay nanoparticles were preferentially intercalated into the mbber phase. Elastic modulus and tensile strength of TPS/NR blends were dramatically improved as a result of mbber modification. Properties of blends were almost unaffected by the dispersion of the clay except for the TPS/ mNR blend loading 2 % MMT. This was attributed to the exfoliation of the MMT. 

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